Inter-Product Matrix

ABSTRACT

Lists of tradeable objects may be generated and displayed to enable a user to define a trading strategy having multiple legs. The lists of tradeable objects may be used to define and display different combinations of the tradeable objects that are included in each of the lists. Each combination of tradeable objects may define the different legs of a spread that may be tradeable on one or more exchanges. A combination of tradeable objects may be selected to display contract information associated with the different legs of the spread. The contract information for each leg may be used to define and display spread information for the legs of the trading strategy. The spread information may allow the user to view information related to the spreads for different combinations of tradeable objects in a display.

BACKGROUND

An electronic trading system generally includes a trading device incommunication with an electronic exchange. The trading device receivesinformation about a market, such as prices and quantities, from theelectronic exchange. The electronic exchange receives messages, such asmessages related to orders, from the trading device. The electronicexchange attempts to match quantity of an order with quantity of one ormore contra-side orders.

The trading device displays the information about the market to a uservia one or more display windows, such that the user can view the marketinformation for submitting order messages to the electronic exchange.The trading devices generally display market information related todifferent electronic exchanges in different display windows. Users cancreate different trading strategies on the trading device based on themarket information from different exchanges, which may cause the user tohave to view market information in multiple display windows to create atrading strategy related to orders. For example, users may define atrading strategy that involves a synthetic spread that is based oncontracts at different exchanges.

As the market information for different exchanges is generally providedin different display windows, creating trading strategies involvingsynthetic spreads, or other trading strategies that use marketinformation from different exchanges, may be difficult and timeconsuming for the user. Due to the limited size of a user display, auser attempting to view market information from different electronicexchanges may have to view information within a compact area of thedisplay or continue to transition between different display windows tofollow a market or execute a trade.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Certain embodiments are disclosed with reference to the followingdrawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram representative of an exampleelectronic trading system in which certain embodiments may be employed.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of another example electronic tradingsystem in which certain embodiments may be employed.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example computing device whichmay be used to implement the disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a trading strategy, which may beemployed with certain disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example system that may be used to provideinformation related to one or more tradeable objects at an electronicexchange.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are example display configurations that may be used todisplay a configuration of tradeable objects for defining a tradingstrategy.

FIG. 7 is an example display configuration that may be used to display aconfiguration of contract information for multiple tradeable objects.

FIG. 8 is an example user interface that may be used to selectparameters for identifying spread information.

FIG. 9 is an example display configuration that may be used to display aconfiguration of tradeable objects for defining a trading strategy andspread information associated with the tradeable objects.

FIG. 10 is an example display configuration that may be used to displaya configuration of tradeable objects for defining a trading strategy andspread information associated with the tradeable objects.

FIG. 11 is an example display configuration that may be used to displaya configuration of contract information for multiple tradeable objects.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram depicting an example method for displayinginformation related to a trading strategy.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram depicting another example method fordisplaying information related to a trading strategy.

Certain embodiments will be better understood when read in conjunctionwith the provided figures, which illustrate examples. It should beunderstood, however, that the embodiments are not limited to thearrangements and instrumentality shown in the attached figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems, methods, and apparatus are described herein for generatingand/or displaying information related to tradeable objects offered atone or more exchanges. A user may select one or more lists of tradeableobjects for defining a trading strategy. The lists of tradeable objectsmay be used to define and display different combinations of thetradeable objects that are included in each of the lists. Eachcombination of tradeable objects may define the different legs of asynthetic spread that may be tradeable on one or more exchanges.

The user may select a combination of tradeable objects to displaycontract information related to the tradeable objects. The contractinformation may indicate a list of future contracts for each leg of thetrading strategy over a period of time. The contract information foreach leg may be used to define and display spread information for thelegs of the trading strategy. The spread information may allow the userto view information related to the spreads for different combinations oftradeable objects in a display. For example, the spread information mayinclude a price or a net change for different combinations of tradeableobjects.

Although this description discloses embodiments including, among othercomponents, software executed on hardware, it should be noted that theembodiments are merely illustrative and should not be considered aslimiting. For example, it is contemplated that any or all of thesehardware and software components may be embodied exclusively inhardware, exclusively in software, exclusively in firmware, or in anycombination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. Accordingly, certainembodiments may be implemented in other ways.

I. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS

Systems, methods, and apparatus are described herein for generatingand/or displaying information related to tradeable objects offered atexchanges. As described herein, a list of tradeable objects offered atan exchange may be displayed along a first axis. A list of tradeableobjects offered at an exchange may be displayed along a second axis. Thelist of tradeable objects displayed along the first and second axes maybe the same or different. The list of tradeable objects displayed alongthe first axis may be aligned orthogonal to the list of tradeableobjects aligned along the second axis.

The lists of tradeable objects displayed along the first and second axesmay cooperate to define a product matrix that indicates differentcombinations of tradeable objects. An indication of a combination of thetradeable objects in the product matrix may be received for defining atrading strategy specifying at least two legs. Contract informationrelated each of the at least two legs specified by the trading strategymay be received at a computing device.

The received contract information related to a first leg of the tradingstrategy may be displayed parallel to the first axis along which a listof tradeable objects is displayed. The received contract informationrelated to a second leg of the trading strategy may be displayedparallel to the second axis along which a list of tradeable objects isdisplayed. The contract information related to the first and second legsof the trading strategy may each be organized over a period of time,which may be the same or different.

The contract information related to the first leg may indicate a list offuture contracts for the first leg and the contract information relatedto the second leg may indicates a list of future contracts for thesecond leg. The first and second periods of time over which therespective contract information related to the first and second legs ofthe trading strategy may be organized may include an ascending ordescending order for the future contracts related to the first andsecond legs of the trading strategy. The ascending or descending orderfor the future contracts may be an ascending or descending order of thesettlement dates for the future contracts, for example.

The contract information related to the first leg and the contractinformation related to the second leg may cooperate to define a contractmatrix. The product matrix may be displayed in a first view and thecontract matrix may be displayed in a second view. An indication of acontract in the contract matrix may be received at a computing deviceand a trade order may be generated that is related to the contractindicated in the contract matrix. The trade order may be submitted to anelectronic exchange.

Market data may be received that is related to each contract in the listof future contracts for the first leg and each contract in the list offuture contracts for the second leg. Spread information may bedetermined based on the received market data related to each contract inthe list of future contracts for the first leg and the received marketdata related to each contract in the list of future contracts for thesecond leg. The spread information may be displayed in the contractmatrix. The spread information may include a price or a net change, forexample.

An indication may be received to display contract information related toadditional legs of the trading strategy. The indication may be receivedto display contract information related to a third leg of the tradingstrategy, for example. The contract information related to the third legmay be received and may be displayed. The displayed contract informationrelated to the third leg may be organized over a third period of time.

The embodiments described herein may be implemented by a computingdevice. For example, the computing device may comprise a syntheticmanager that may be used to implement the embodiments described herein.

II. EXAMPLE ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram representative of an exampleelectronic trading system 100 in which certain embodiments may beemployed. The system 100 includes a trading device 110, a gateway 120,and an exchange 130. The trading device 110 is in communication with thegateway 120. The gateway 120 is in communication with the exchange 130.As used herein, the phrase “in communication with” encompasses directcommunication and/or indirect communication through one or moreintermediary components. The exemplary electronic trading system 100depicted in FIG. 1 may be in communication with additional components,subsystems, and elements to provide additional functionality andcapabilities without departing from the teaching and disclosure providedherein.

In operation, the trading device 110 may receive market data from theexchange 130 through the gateway 120. A user may utilize the tradingdevice 110 to monitor this market data and/or base a decision to send anorder message to buy or sell one or more tradeable objects to theexchange 130.

Market data may include data about a market for a tradeable object. Forexample, market data may include the inside market, market depth, lasttraded price (“LTP”), a last traded quantity (“LTQ”), or a combinationthereof. The inside market refers to the highest available bid price(best bid) and the lowest available ask price (best ask or best offer)in the market for the tradeable object at a particular point in time(since the inside market may vary over time). Market depth refers toquantities available at price levels including the inside market andaway from the inside market. Market depth may have “gaps” due to priceswith no quantity based on orders in the market.

The price levels associated with the inside market and market depth canbe provided as value levels which can encompass prices as well asderived and/or calculated representations of value. For example, valuelevels may be displayed as net change from an opening price. As anotherexample, value levels may be provided as a value calculated from pricesin two other markets. In another example, value levels may includeconsolidated price levels.

A tradeable object is anything which may be traded. For example, acertain quantity of the tradeable object may be bought or sold for aparticular price. A tradeable object may include, for example, financialproducts, stocks, options, bonds, future contracts, currency, warrants,funds derivatives, securities, commodities, swaps, interest rateproducts, index-based products, traded events, goods, or a combinationthereof. A tradeable object may include a product listed and/oradministered by an exchange, a product defined by the user, acombination of real or synthetic products, or a combination thereof.There may be a synthetic tradeable object that corresponds and/or issimilar to a real tradeable object.

An order message is a message that includes a trade order. A trade ordermay be, for example, a command to place an order to buy or sell atradeable object; a command to initiate managing orders according to adefined trading strategy; a command to change, modify, or cancel anorder; an instruction to an electronic exchange relating to an order; ora combination thereof.

The trading device 110 may include one or more electronic computingplatforms. For example, the trading device 110 may include a desktopcomputer, hand-held device, laptop, server, a portable computing device,a trading terminal, an embedded trading system, a workstation, analgorithmic trading system such as a “black box” or “grey box” system,cluster of computers, or a combination thereof. As another example, thetrading device 110 may include a single or multi-core processor incommunication with a memory or other storage medium configured toaccessibly store one or more computer programs, applications, libraries,computer readable instructions, and the like, for execution by theprocessor.

As used herein, the phrases “configured to” and “adapted to” encompassthat an element, structure, or device has been modified, arranged,changed, or varied to perform a specific function or for a specificpurpose.

By way of example, the trading device 110 may be implemented as apersonal computer running a copy of X TRADER®, an electronic tradingplatform provided by Trading Technologies International, Inc. ofChicago, Ill. (“Trading Technologies”). As another example, the tradingdevice 110 may be a server running a trading application providingautomated trading tools such as ADL®, AUTOSPREADER®, and/or AUTOTRADER™,also provided by Trading Technologies. In yet another example, thetrading device 110 may include a trading terminal in communication witha server, where collectively the trading terminal and the server are thetrading device 110.

The trading device 110 is generally owned, operated, controlled,programmed, configured, or otherwise used by a user. As used herein, thephrase “user” may include, but is not limited to, a human (for example,a trader), trading group (for example, a group of traders), or anelectronic trading device (for example, an algorithmic trading system).One or more users may be involved in the ownership, operation, control,programming, configuration, or other use, for example.

The trading device 110 may include one or more trading applications. Asused herein, a trading application is an application that facilitates orimproves electronic trading. A trading application provides one or moreelectronic trading tools. For example, a trading application stored by atrading device may be executed to arrange and display market data in oneor more trading windows. In another example, a trading application mayinclude an automated spread trading application providing spread tradingtools. In yet another example, a trading application may include analgorithmic trading application that automatically processes analgorithm and performs certain actions, such as placing an order,modifying an existing order, deleting an order. In yet another example,a trading application may provide one or more trading screens. A tradingscreen may provide one or more trading tools that allow interaction withone or more markets. For example, a trading tool may allow a user toobtain and view market data, set order entry parameters, submit ordermessages to an exchange, deploy trading algorithms, and/or monitorpositions while implementing various trading strategies. The electronictrading tools provided by the trading application may always beavailable or may be available only in certain configurations oroperating modes of the trading application.

A trading application may be implemented utilizing computer readableinstructions that are stored in a computer readable medium andexecutable by a processor. A computer readable medium may includevarious types of volatile and non-volatile storage media, including, forexample, random access memory, read-only memory, programmable read-onlymemory, electrically programmable read-only memory, electricallyerasable read-only memory, flash memory, any combination thereof, or anyother tangible data storage device. As used herein, the termnon-transitory or tangible computer readable medium is expressly definedto include any type of computer readable storage media and to excludepropagating signals.

One or more components or modules of a trading application may be loadedinto the computer readable medium of the trading device 110 from anothercomputer readable medium. For example, the trading application (orupdates to the trading application) may be stored by a manufacturer,developer, or publisher on one or more CDs or DVDs, which are thenloaded onto the trading device 110 or to a server from which the tradingdevice 110 retrieves the trading application. As another example, thetrading device 110 may receive the trading application (or updates tothe trading application) from a server, for example, via the Internet oran internal network. The trading device 110 may receive the tradingapplication or updates when requested by the trading device 110 (forexample, “pull distribution”) and/or un-requested by the trading device110 (for example, “push distribution”).

The trading device 110 may be adapted to send order messages. Forexample, the order messages may be sent to through the gateway 120 tothe exchange 130. As another example, the trading device 110 may beadapted to send order messages to a simulated exchange in a simulationenvironment which does not effectuate real-world trades.

The order messages may be sent at the request of a user. For example, atrader may utilize the trading device 110 to send an order message ormanually input one or more parameters for a trade order (for example, anorder price and/or quantity). As another example, an automated tradingtool provided by a trading application may calculate one or moreparameters for a trade order and automatically send the order message.In some instances, an automated trading tool may prepare the ordermessage to be sent but not actually send it without confirmation from auser.

An order message may be sent in one or more data packets or through ashared memory system. For example, an order message may be sent from thetrading device 110 to the exchange 130 through the gateway 120. Thetrading device 110 may communicate with the gateway 120 using a localarea network, a wide area network, a wireless network, a virtual privatenetwork, a cellular network, a peer-to-peer network, a T1 line, a T3line, an integrated services digital network (“ISDN”) line, apoint-of-presence, the Internet, a shared memory system and/or aproprietary network such as TTNET™ provided by Trading Technologies, forexample.

The gateway 120 may include one or more electronic computing platforms.For example, the gateway 120 may be implemented as one or more desktopcomputer, hand-held device, laptop, server, a portable computing device,a trading terminal, an embedded trading system, workstation with asingle or multi-core processor, an algorithmic trading system such as a“black box” or “grey box” system, cluster of computers, or anycombination thereof.

The gateway 120 may facilitate communication. For example, the gateway120 may perform protocol translation for data communicated between thetrading device 110 and the exchange 130. The gateway 120 may process anorder message received from the trading device 110 into a data formatunderstood by the exchange 130, for example. Similarly, the gateway 120may transform market data in an exchange-specific format received fromthe exchange 130 into a format understood by the trading device 110, forexample.

The gateway 120 may include a trading application, similar to thetrading applications discussed above, that facilitates or improveselectronic trading. For example, the gateway 120 may include a tradingapplication that tracks orders from the trading device 110 and updatesthe status of the order based on fill confirmations received from theexchange 130. As another example, the gateway 120 may include a tradingapplication that coalesces market data from the exchange 130 andprovides it to the trading device 110. In yet another example, thegateway 120 may include a trading application that provides riskprocessing, calculates implieds, handles order processing, handlesmarket data processing, or a combination thereof.

In certain embodiments, the gateway 120 communicates with the exchange130 using a local area network, a wide area network, a wireless network,a virtual private network, a cellular network, a peer-to-peer network, aT1 line, a T3 line, an ISDN line, a point-of-presence, the Internet, ashared memory system, and/or a proprietary network such as TTNET™provided by Trading Technologies, for example.

The exchange 130 may be owned, operated, controlled, or used by anexchange entity. Example exchange entities include the CME Group, theLondon International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, theIntercontinental Exchange, and Eurex. The exchange 130 may include anelectronic matching system, such as a computer, server, or othercomputing device, which is adapted to allow tradeable objects, forexample, offered for trading by the exchange, to be bought and sold. Theexchange 130 may include separate entities, some of which list and/oradminister tradeable objects and others which receive and match orders,for example. The exchange 130 may include an electronic communicationnetwork (“ECN”), for example.

The exchange 130 may be an electronic exchange. The exchange 130 isadapted to receive order messages and match contra-side trade orders tobuy and sell tradeable objects. Unmatched trade orders may be listed fortrading by the exchange 130. Once an order to buy or sell a tradeableobject is received and confirmed by the exchange, the order isconsidered to be a working order until it is filled or cancelled. Ifonly a portion of the quantity of the order is matched, then thepartially filled order remains a working order. The trade orders mayinclude trade orders received from the trading device 110 or otherdevices in communication with the exchange 130, for example. Forexample, typically the exchange 130 will be in communication with avariety of other trading devices (which may be similar to trading device110) which also provide trade orders to be matched.

The exchange 130 is adapted to provide market data. Market data may beprovided in one or more messages or data packets or through a sharedmemory system. For example, the exchange 130 may publish a data feed tosubscribing devices, such as the trading device 110 or gateway 120. Thedata feed may include market data.

The system 100 may include additional, different, or fewer components.For example, the system 100 may include multiple trading devices,gateways, and/or exchanges. In another example, the system 100 mayinclude other communication devices, such as middleware, firewalls,hubs, switches, routers, servers, exchange-specific communicationequipment, modems, security managers, and/or encryption/decryptiondevices.

III. EXPANDED EXAMPLE ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of another example electronic tradingsystem 200 in which certain embodiments may be employed. In thisexample, a trading device 210 may utilize one or more communicationnetworks to communicate with a gateway 220 and exchange 230. Forexample, the trading device 210 utilizes network 202 to communicate withthe gateway 220, and the gateway 220, in turn, utilizes the networks 204and 206 to communicate with the exchange 230. As used herein, a networkfacilitates or enables communication between computing devices such asthe trading device 210, the gateway 220, and the exchange 230.

The following discussion generally focuses on the trading device 210,gateway 220, and the exchange 230. However, the trading device 210 mayalso be connected to and communicate with “n” additional gateways(individually identified as gateways 220 a-220 n, which may be similarto gateway 220) and “n” additional exchanges (individually identified asexchanges 230 a-230 n, which may be similar to exchange 230) by way ofthe network 202 (or other similar networks). Additional networks(individually identified as networks 204 a-204 n and 206 a-206 n, whichmay be similar to networks 204 and 206, respectively) may be utilizedfor communications between the additional gateways and exchanges. Thecommunication between the trading device 210 and each of the additionalexchanges 230 a-230 n need not be the same as the communication betweenthe trading device 210 and exchange 230. Generally, each exchange hasits own preferred techniques and/or formats for communicating with atrading device, a gateway, the user, or another exchange. It should beunderstood that there is not necessarily a one-to-one mapping betweengateways 220 a-220 n and exchanges 230 a-230 n. For example, aparticular gateway may be in communication with more than one exchange.As another example, more than one gateway may be in communication withthe same exchange. Such an arrangement may, for example, allow one ormore trading devices 210 to trade at more than one exchange (and/orprovide redundant connections to multiple exchanges).

Additional trading devices 210 a-210 n, which may be similar to tradingdevice 210, may be connected to one or more of the gateways 220 a-220 nand exchanges 230 a-230 n. For example, the trading device 210 a maycommunicate with the exchange 230 a via the gateway 220 a and thenetworks 202 a, 204 a and 206 a. In another example, the trading device210 b may be in direct communication with exchange 230 a. In anotherexample, trading device 210 c may be in communication with the gateway220 n via an intermediate device 208 such as a proxy, remote host, orWAN router.

The trading device 210, which may be similar to the trading device 110in FIG. 1, includes a server 212 in communication with a tradingterminal 214. The server 212 may be located geographically closer to thegateway 220 than the trading terminal 214 in order to reduce latency. Inoperation, the trading terminal 214 may provide a trading screen to auser and communicate commands to the server 212 for further processing.For example, a trading algorithm may be deployed to the server 212 forexecution based on market data. The server 212 may execute the tradingalgorithm without further input from the user. In another example, theserver 212 may include a trading application providing automated tradingtools and communicate back to the trading terminal 214. The tradingdevice 210 may include additional, different, or fewer components.

In operation, the network 202 may be a multicast network configured toallow the trading device 210 to communicate with the gateway 220. Dataon the network 202 may be logically separated by subject such as, forexample, by prices, orders, or fills. As a result, the server 212 andtrading terminal 214 can subscribe to and receive data such as, forexample, data relating to prices, orders, or fills, depending on theirindividual needs.

The gateway 220, which may be similar to the gateway 120 of FIG. 1, mayinclude a price server 222, order server 224, and fill server 226. Thegateway 220 may include additional, different, or fewer components. Theprice server 222 may process price data. Price data includes datarelated to a market for one or more tradeable objects. The order server224 processes order data. Order data is data related to a user's tradeorders. For example, order data may include order messages, confirmationmessages, or other types of messages. The fill server collects andprovides fill data. Fill data includes data relating to one or morefills of trade orders. For example, the fill server 226 may provide arecord of trade orders, which have been routed through the order server224, that have and have not been filled. The servers 222, 224, and 226may run on the same machine or separate machines. There may be more thanone instance of the price server 222, the order server 224, and/or thefill server 226 for gateway 220. In certain embodiments, the additionalgateways 220 a-220 n may each includes instances of the servers 222,224, and 226 (individually identified as servers 222 a-222 n, 224 a-224n, and 226 a-226 n).

The gateway 220 may communicate with the exchange 230 using one or morecommunication networks. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, there may betwo communication networks connecting the gateway 220 and the exchange230. The network 204 may be used to communicate market data to the priceserver 222. In some instances, the exchange 230 may include this data ina data feed that is published to subscribing devices. The network 206may be used to communicate order data to the order server 224 and thefill server 226. The network 206 may also be used to communicate orderdata from the order server 224 to the exchange 230.

The exchange 230, which may be similar to the exchange 130 of FIG. 1,includes an order book 232 and a matching engine 234. The exchange 230may include additional, different, or fewer components. The order book232 is a database that includes data relating to unmatched trade ordersthat have been submitted to the exchange 230. For example, the orderbook 232 may include data relating to a market for a tradeable object,such as the inside market, market depth at various price levels, thelast traded price, and the last traded quantity. The matching engine 234may match contra-side bids and offers pending in the order book 232. Forexample, the matching engine 234 may execute one or more matchingalgorithms that match contra-side bids and offers. A sell order iscontra-side to a buy order. Similarly, a buy order is contra-side to asell order. A matching algorithm may match contra-side bids and offersat the same price, for example. In certain embodiments, the additionalexchanges 230 a-230 n may each include order books and matching engines(individually identified as the order book 232 a-232 n and the matchingengine 234 a-234 n, which may be similar to the order book 232 and thematching engine 234, respectively). Different exchanges may usedifferent data structures and algorithms for tracking data related toorders and matching orders.

In operation, the exchange 230 may provide price data from the orderbook 232 to the price server 222 and order data and/or fill data fromthe matching engine 234 to the order server 224 and/or the fill server226. Servers 222, 224, 226 may process and communicate this data to thetrading device 210. The trading device 210, for example, using a tradingapplication, may process this data. For example, the data may bedisplayed to a user. In another example, the data may be utilized in atrading algorithm to determine whether a trade order should be submittedto the exchange 230. The trading device 210 may prepare and send anorder message to the exchange 230.

In certain embodiments, the gateway 220 is part of the trading device210. For example, the components of the gateway 220 may be part of thesame computing platform as the trading device 210. As another example,the functionality of the gateway 220 may be performed by components ofthe trading device 210. In certain embodiments, the gateway 220 is notpresent. Such an arrangement may occur when the trading device 210 doesnot need to utilize the gateway 220 to communicate with the exchange230, such as if the trading device 210 has been adapted to communicatedirectly with the exchange 230.

IV. EXAMPLE COMPUTING DEVICE

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example computing device 300which may be used to implement the disclosed embodiments. The tradingdevice 110 of FIG. 1 may include one or more computing devices 300, forexample. The gateway 120 of FIG. 1 may include one or more computingdevices 300, for example. The exchange 130 of FIG. 1 may include one ormore computing devices 300, for example.

The computing device 300 includes a communication network 310, aprocessor 312, a memory 314, an interface 316, an input device 318, andan output device 320. The computing device 300 may include additional,different, or fewer components. For example, multiple communicationnetworks, multiple processors, multiple memory, multiple interfaces,multiple input devices, multiple output devices, or any combinationthereof, may be provided. As another example, the computing device 300may not include an input device 318 or output device 320.

As shown in FIG. 3, the computing device 300 may include a processor 312coupled to a communication network 310. The communication network 310may include a communication bus, channel, electrical or optical network,circuit, switch, fabric, or other mechanism for communicating databetween components in the computing device 300. The communicationnetwork 310 may be communicatively coupled with and transfer databetween any of the components of the computing device 300.

The processor 312 may be any suitable processor, processing unit, ormicroprocessor. The processor 312 may include one or more generalprocessors, digital signal processors, application specific integratedcircuits, field programmable gate arrays, analog circuits, digitalcircuits, programmed processors, and/or combinations thereof, forexample. The processor 312 may be a single device or a combination ofdevices, such as one or more devices associated with a network ordistributed processing. Any processing strategy may be used, such asmulti-processing, multi-tasking, parallel processing, and/or remoteprocessing. Processing may be local or remote and may be moved from oneprocessor to another processor. In certain embodiments, the computingdevice 300 is a multi-processor system and, thus, may include one ormore additional processors which are communicatively coupled to thecommunication network 310.

The processor 312 may be operable to execute logic and other computerreadable instructions encoded in one or more tangible media, such as thememory 314. As used herein, logic encoded in one or more tangible mediaincludes instructions which may be executable by the processor 312 or adifferent processor. The logic may be stored as part of software,hardware, integrated circuits, firmware, and/or micro-code, for example.The logic may be received from an external communication device via acommunication network such as the network 340. The processor 312 mayexecute the logic to perform the functions, acts, or tasks illustratedin the figures or described herein.

The memory 314 may be one or more tangible media, such as computerreadable storage media, for example. Computer readable storage media mayinclude various types of volatile and non-volatile storage media,including, for example, random access memory, read-only memory,programmable read-only memory, electrically programmable read-onlymemory, electrically erasable read-only memory, flash memory, anycombination thereof, or any other tangible data storage device. As usedherein, the term non-transitory or tangible computer readable medium isexpressly defined to include any type of computer readable medium and toexclude propagating signals. The memory 314 may include any desired typeof mass storage device including hard disk drives, optical media,magnetic tape or disk, etc.

The memory 314 may include one or more memory devices. For example, thememory 314 may include local memory, a mass storage device, volatilememory, non-volatile memory, or a combination thereof. The memory 314may be adjacent to, part of, programmed with, networked with, and/orremote from processor 312, so the data stored in the memory 314 may beretrieved and processed by the processor 312, for example. The memory314 may store instructions which are executable by the processor 312.The instructions may be executed to perform one or more of the acts orfunctions described herein or shown in the figures.

The memory 314 may store a trading application 330. In certainembodiments, the trading application 330 may be accessed from or storedin different locations. The processor 312 may access the tradingapplication 330 stored in the memory 314 and execute computer-readableinstructions included in the trading application 330.

In certain embodiments, during an installation process, the tradingapplication may be transferred from the input device 318 and/or thenetwork 340 to the memory 314. When the computing device 300 is runningor preparing to run the trading application 330, the processor 312 mayretrieve the instructions from the memory 314 via the communicationnetwork 310.

V. STRATEGY TRADING

In addition to buying and/or selling a single tradeable object, a usermay trade more than one tradeable object according to a tradingstrategy. One common trading strategy is a spread and trading accordingto a trading strategy may also be referred to as spread trading. Spreadtrading may attempt to capitalize on changes or movements in therelationships between the tradeable object in the trading strategy, forexample.

An automated trading tool may be utilized to trade according to atrading strategy, for example. For example, the automated trading toolmay include AUTOSPREADER®, provided by Trading Technologies.

A trading strategy defines a relationship between two or more tradeableobjects to be traded. Each tradeable object being traded as part of atrading strategy may be referred to as a leg or outright market of thetrading strategy.

When the trading strategy is to be bought, the definition for thetrading strategy specifies which tradeable object corresponding to eachleg should be bought or sold. Similarly, when the trading strategy is tobe sold, the definition specifies which tradeable objects correspondingto each leg should be bought or sold. For example, a trading strategymay be defined such that buying the trading strategy involves buying oneunit of a first tradeable object for leg A and selling one unit of asecond tradeable object for leg B. Selling the trading strategytypically involves performing the opposite actions for each leg.

In addition, the definition for the trading strategy may specify aspread ratio associated with each leg of the trading strategy. Thespread ratio may also be referred to as an order size for the leg. Thespread ratio indicates the quantity of each leg in relation to the otherlegs. For example, a trading strategy may be defined such that buyingthe trading strategy involves buying 2 units of a first tradeable objectfor leg A and selling 3 units of a second tradeable object for leg B.The sign of the spread ratio may be used to indicate whether the leg isto be bought (the spread ratio is positive) or sold (the spread ratio isnegative) when buying the trading strategy. In the example above, thespread ratio associated with leg A would be “2” and the spread ratioassociated with leg B would be “−3.”

In some instances, the spread ratio may be implied or implicit. Forexample, the spread ratio for a leg of a trading strategy may not beexplicitly specified, but rather implied or defaulted to be “1” or “−1.”

In addition, the spread ratio for each leg may be collectively referredto as the spread ratio or strategy ratio for the trading strategy. Forexample, if leg A has a spread ratio of “2” and leg B has a spread ratioof “−3”, the spread ratio (or strategy ratio) for the trading strategymay be expressed as “2:−3” or as “2:3” if the sign for leg B is implicitor specified elsewhere in a trading strategy definition.

Additionally, the definition for the trading strategy may specify amultiplier associated with each leg of the trading strategy. Themultiplier is used to adjust the price of the particular leg fordetermining the price of the spread. The multiplier for each leg may bethe same as the spread ratio. For example, in the example above, themultiplier associated with leg A may be “2” and the multiplierassociated with leg B may be “−3,” both of which match the correspondingspread ratio for each leg. Alternatively, the multiplier associated withone or more legs may be different than the corresponding spread ratiosfor those legs. For example, the values for the multipliers may beselected to convert the prices for the legs into a common currency.

The following discussion assumes that the spread ratio and multipliersfor each leg are the same, unless otherwise indicated. In addition, thefollowing discussion assumes that the signs for the spread ratio and themultipliers for a particular leg are the same and, if not, the sign forthe multiplier is used to determine which side of the trading strategy aparticular leg is on.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of a trading strategy 410 which maybe employed with certain disclosed embodiments. The trading strategy 410includes “n” legs 420 (individually identified as leg 420 a to leg 420n). The trading strategy 410 defines the relationship between tradeableobjects 422 (individually identified as tradeable object 422 a totradeable object 422 n) of each of the legs 420 a to 420 n using thecorresponding spread ratios 424 a to 424 n and multipliers 426 a to 426n.

Once defined, the tradeable objects 422 in the trading strategy 410 maythen be traded together according to the defined relationship. Forexample, assume that the trading strategy 410 is a spread with two legs,leg 420 a and leg 420 b. Leg 420 a is for tradeable object 422 a and leg420 b is for tradeable object 422 b. In addition, assume that the spreadratio 424 a and multiplier 426 a associated with leg 420 a are “1” andthat the spread ratio 424 b and multiplier 426 b associated with leg 420b are “−1”. That is, the spread is defined such that when the spread isbought, 1 unit of tradeable object 422 a is bought (positive spreadratio, same direction as the spread) and 1 unit of tradeable object 422b is sold (negative spread ratio, opposite direction of the spread). Asmentioned above, typically in spread trading the opposite of thedefinition applies. That is, when the definition for the spread is suchthat when the spread is sold, 1 unit of tradeable object 422 a is sold(positive spread ratio, same direction as the spread) and 1 unit oftradeable object 422 b is bought (negative spread ratio, oppositedirection of the spread).

The price for the trading strategy 410 is determined based on thedefinition. In particular, the price for the trading strategy 410 istypically the sum of price the legs 420 a-420 n comprising the tradeableobjects 422 a-422 n multiplied by corresponding multipliers 426 a-426 n.The price for a trading strategy may be affected by price tick roundingand/or pay-up ticks. However, both of these implementation details arebeyond the scope of this discussion and are well-known in the art.

Recall that, as discussed above, a real spread may be listed at anexchange, such as exchange 130 and/or 230, as a tradeable product. Incontrast, a synthetic spread may not be listed as a product at anexchange, but rather the various legs of the spread are tradeable at oneor more exchanges. For the purposes of the following example, thetrading strategy 410 described is a synthetic trading strategy. However,similar techniques to those described below may also be applied by anexchange when a real trading strategy is traded.

Continuing the example from above, if it is expected or believed thattradeable object 422 a typically has a price 10 greater than tradeableobject 422 b, then it may be advantageous to buy the spread whenever thedifference in price between tradeable objects 422 a and 422 b is lessthan 10 and sell the spread whenever the difference is greater than 10.As an example, assume that tradeable object 422 a is at a price of 45and tradeable object 422 b is at a price of 40. The current spread pricemay then be determined to be (1)(45)+(−1)(40)=5, which is less than thetypical spread of 10. Thus, a user may buy 1 unit of the spread, whichresults in buying 1 unit of tradeable object 422 a at a price of 45 andselling 1 unit of tradeable object 422 b at 40. At some later time, thetypical price difference may be restored and the price of tradeableobject 422 a is 42 and the price of tradeable object 422 b is 32. Atthis point, the price of the spread is now 10. If the user sells 1 unitof the spread to close out the user's position (that is, sells 1 unit oftradeable object 422 a and buys 1 unit of tradeable object 422 b), theuser has made a profit on the total transaction. In particular, whilethe user bought tradeable object 422 a at a price of 45 and sold at 42,losing 3, the user sold tradeable object 422 b at a price of 40 andbought at 32, for a profit of 8. Thus, the user made 5 on the buying andselling of the spread.

The above example assumes that there is sufficient liquidity andstability that the tradeable objects can be bought and sold at themarket price at approximately the desired times. This allows the desiredprice for the spread to be achieved. However, more generally, a desiredprice at which to buy or sell a particular trading strategy isdetermined. Then, an automated trading tool, for example, attempts toachieve that desired price by buying and selling the legs at appropriateprices. For example, when a user instructs the trading tool to buy orsell the trading strategy 410 at a desired price, the automated tradingtool may automatically place an order (also referred to as quoting anorder) for one of the tradeable objects 422 of the trading strategy 410to achieve the desired price for the trading strategy (also referred toas a desired strategy price, desired spread price, and/or a targetprice). The leg for which the order is placed is referred to as thequoting leg. The other leg is referred to as a lean leg and/or a hedgeleg. The price that the quoting leg is quoted at is based on a targetprice that an order could be filled at in the lean leg. The target pricein the hedge leg is also known as the leaned on price, lean price,and/or lean level. Typically, if there is sufficient quantity available,the target price may be the best bid price when selling and the best askprice when buying. The target price may be different than the best priceavailable if there is not enough quantity available at that price orbecause it is an implied price, for example. As the leaned on pricechanges, the price for the order in the quoting leg may also change tomaintain the desired strategy price.

The leaned on price may also be determined based on a lean multiplierand/or a lean base. A lean multiplier may specify a multiple of theorder quantity for the hedge leg that should be available to lean onthat price level. For example, if a quantity of 10 is needed in thehedge leg and the lean multiplier is 2, then the lean level may bedetermined to be the best price that has at least a quantity of 20available. A lean base may specify an additional quantity above theneeded quantity for the hedge leg that should be available to lean onthat price level. For example, if a quantity of 10 is needed in thehedge leg and the lean base is 5, then the lean level may be determinedto be the best price that has at least a quantity of 15 available. Thelean multiplier and lean base may also be used in combination. Forexample, the lean base and lean multiplier may be utilized such thatlarger of the two is used or they may be used additively to determinethe amount of quantity to be available.

When the quoting leg is filled, the automated trading tool may thensubmit an order in the hedge leg to complete the strategy. This ordermay be referred to as an offsetting or hedging order. The offsettingorder may be placed at the leaned on price or based on the fill pricefor the quoting order, for example. If the offsetting order is notfilled (or filled sufficiently to achieve the desired strategy price),then the strategy order is said to be “legged up” or “legged” becausethe desired strategy relationship has not been achieved according to thetrading strategy definition.

In addition to having a single quoting leg, as discussed above, atrading strategy may be quoted in multiple (or even all) legs. In suchsituations, each quoted leg still leans on the other legs. When one ofthe quoted legs is filled, typically the orders in the other quoted legsare cancelled and then appropriate hedge orders are placed based on thelean prices that the now-filled quoting leg utilized.

VI. DISPLAY OF INTER-PRODUCT INFORMATION

FIG. 5 illustrates an example system 500 that may be used to provideinformation related to one or more tradeable objects at an electronicexchange. The system 500 may include a trading device 510 that maysubmit an order message to one or more exchanges, such as exchanges 530,530 a, and/or 530 n, for executing a trade between one or more othertrading devices. The trading device 510 may communicate with othertrading devices directly and/or through the network 540. The tradingdevice 510 may communicate with the exchange 530 directly or through thenetwork 540.

The trading device 510 may receive market data via the network 540 andgenerate a display for a providing the market data, or information basedon the market data, to a user. The market data may be related to one ormore tradeable objects of a synthetic spread that are traded at one ormore exchanges.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the trading device 510 may include a syntheticmanager 550 and/or a synthetic manager 550 a that may be used togenerate a display for the synthetic spread that may identify thevarious legs of the spread and/or contract information related to thelegs of the spread. The synthetic manager 550 and/or a synthetic manager550 a receive user input from the display and may process the user inputas described herein. The synthetic manager 550 and the synthetic manager550 a may be independent synthetic managers, or components of a commonsynthetic manager distributed across multiple computing devices, such asthe server 512 and the trading terminal 514, for example. The syntheticmanager 550, 550 a may be executed as software and/or hardware. Forexample, the synthetic manager may be a software module executed by aprocessor from memory at the trading device 510, or an independenthardware module.

The trading device 510 may generate the display indicating one or moretradeable objects in a synthetic spread based on market data receivedfrom multiple exchanges (e.g., two or more of exchanges 530-530 n). Thedisplay may be generated at the server 512 and/or the trading terminal514 for being displayed at the trading terminal 514.

FIG. 6A is an example display configuration 600 that may present aconfiguration of tradeable objects for defining a trading strategy. Asshown in FIG. 6A, the display configuration 600 may be included in auser interface 602. The user interface 602 may be a display windowembedded in a trading application such as the trading application 330.The display configuration 600 may include a list of tradeable objects604 and a list of tradeable objects 606. Each list of tradeable objects604 and 606 may include the same or different products, types ofproducts, and other groupings of products offered at an electronicexchange. The electronic exchange on which the list of tradeable objects604 may be traded may be the same or different than the electronicexchange on which the list of tradeable objects 606 may be traded. Asshown in the display configuration 600, each tradeable object in thelist of tradeable objects 604 and the list of tradeable objects 606 isidentified with an abbreviation.

The list of tradeable objects 604 and a list of tradeable objects 606may be pre-selected by a user. Each list of tradeable objects 604, 606may correspond to a given electronic exchange. In certain embodiments,each list of tradeable objects 604, 606 may correspond tradeable objectsoffered at different markets on a common electronic exchange. Each listof tradeable objects 604, 606 may be a filtered list (e.g., filtered bythe user) of the tradeable objects at an exchange or an entire list oftradeable objects offered at an exchange.

The list of tradeable objects 604 is displayed along an x-axis, whilethe list of tradeable objects 606 is displayed orthogonal to the list oftradeable objects 604 along a y-axis. Each of the tradeable objectsidentified in the list of tradeable objects 604 and the list oftradeable objects 606 may be combined into a plurality of cells thatform a product matrix 608 which identifies combinations of tradeableobjects that may be used to define synthetic spreads. Each cell containsa combination of tradeable objects that may be identified by acombination of the abbreviations of the tradeable objects offered at anexchange.

The combinations of tradeable objects corresponding to a tradeableobject in the list of tradeable objects 604 may be displayed in they-direction below the tradeable object. For example, the combinations oftradeable objects including the tradeable object represented by theabbreviation CL in the list of tradeable objects 604 are displayed in alist of cells in the y-direction below the tradeable object having theabbreviation CL. The combinations of tradeable objects corresponding toeach tradeable object in the list of tradeable objects 606 may bedisplayed in the x-direction next to the tradeable object. For example,the combinations of tradeable objects including the tradeable objectrepresented by the abbreviation NN in the list of tradeable objects 606are displayed in a list of cells in the x-direction to the right of theabbreviation NN. The display configuration 600 removes the combinationsof the same tradeable object (e.g., CLCL) from the product matrix 608.The display configuration 600 removes the duplicate combinations oftradeable objects from the product matrix 608 to display eachcombination of tradeable objects a single time in the product matrix608.

The list of tradeable objects 604 and 606 in the display configuration600 shown in FIG. 6A are the same. FIG. 6B is another example displayconfiguration 610 that may display a configuration of tradeable objectsfor defining a trading strategy. The display configuration 610 mayinclude the list of tradeable objects 604 and a different list oftradeable objects 612. Each list of tradeable objects 604 and 612includes different tradeable objects offered at an electronic exchange.As shown in the display configuration 610, each tradeable object in thelist of tradeable objects 604 and the list of tradeable objects 606 isidentified with an abbreviation.

The display configuration 610 is similar to the display configuration600. The list of tradeable objects 604 and the list of tradeable objects612 are combined into a plurality of cells to form a product matrix 614,which is different from the product matrix 608 due to the list oftradeable object 612 being different from the list of tradeable objects606. The product matrix 608 and the product matrix 614 allow multiplecombinations of tradeable objects for defining a trading strategy to bedisplayed in the user interface 602. The product matrix 608 may allowthe display of each combination of products for defining a syntheticspread using the products in the lists of tradeable objects 604 and 606,and the product matrix 614 may allow for the display of each combinationof products for defining a synthetic spread using the products in thelists of tradeable objects 604 and 612.

Each combination of tradeable objects in the product matrix 608 and theproduct matrix 614 may be selectable by a user to define a tradingstrategy specifying multiple legs of a trading strategy. The selectionof a combination of tradeable objects in the product matrix may triggerthe display of contract information for each leg of the trading strategydefined by the selected tradeable objects. For example, if the userselects the combination of tradeable objects 616 (e.g., HOGO), contractinformation related to the tradeable objects 616 may be displayed. Thecontract information may be displayed in user interface 602 or aseparate interface.

FIG. 7 is an example display configuration 720 that may display aconfiguration of contract information for multiple tradeable objects. Asshown in FIG. 7, the display configuration 720 may be included in a userinterface 702. The user interface 702 may be a display window embeddedin a trading application. The display configuration 720 may includecontract information 724 for a first leg (leg A) of a trading strategyand contract information 726 for a second leg (leg B) of the tradingstrategy. The contract information 724 and 726 may each be organizedover a period of time. The period of time for the contract information724 and 726 may be ascending or descending. The period of time for thecontract information 724 and 726 may be the same or different. Theperiod of time may be pre-defined and/or user-defined.

As shown in FIG. 7, the contract information 724 and 726 identify futurecontracts for leg A and leg B, respectively, in monthly increments for ayear. The monthly increments may be contract settlement dates. As shownin the display configuration 720, each monthly contract in the contractinformation 724 and the contract information 726 may be identified bythe tradeable object for each leg (e.g., in the form of an abbreviation)and the contract month. Though the contract month may be displayed inFIG. 7, any other contract period may be displayed.

The contract information 724 is displayed along an x-axis, while thecontract information 726 is displayed orthogonal to the contractinformation 724 along a y-axis. Each of the monthly contracts identifiedin the contract information 724 and the contract information 726 may becombined to form a contract matrix 728 that may identify spreadinformation for the contracts identified in the contract information 724and the contract information 726. The spread information may identifycombinations of future contracts that may be used to define syntheticspreads. Each combination of future contracts may be identified by acombination of the abbreviations of the tradeable objects offered at anexchange and an indication of the months of the future contractsindicated in each cell of the contract matrix 728.

The future contract spreads corresponding to each contract month for thetradeable object in the contract information 724 may be displayed in they-direction below the contract month. For example, the synthetic spreadsincluding the tradeable object and contract month represented by theabbreviation HO1 in the contract information 724 are displayed in a listof cells in the y-direction below the abbreviation HO1. The futurecontract spreads corresponding to each contract month for the tradeableobject in the contract information 726 may be displayed in thex-direction next to the contract month. For example, the syntheticspreads including the tradeable object and contract month represented bythe abbreviation GO1 in the contract information 726 are displayed in alist of cells in the x-direction to the right of the abbreviation GO1.

The spread information in the contract matrix 728 allows multipletradeable spreads to be displayed in the user interface 702. Thecontract matrix 728 may allow for the display of each combination ofcontracts for defining a synthetic spread between the tradeable objectsidentified in the contract information 724 and the contract information726. The spread information and/or the contract information 724, 726 mayshow the contracts that are expiring nearest in time with the earliestmonth indicator (e.g., “1”) or the earliest month indicator may indicatethe earliest month of the year (e.g., January). The contracts mayincrease in time with each subsequent month indicator (e.g., 2-12). Thecontracts 730 identified on the diagonal of the contract matrix 728 maybe identified as the contracts for each tradeable object in the sametime period. The contracts in the x-direction of the contracts 730 mayshow an increase in the spread for the tradeable object identified inthe contract information 724. The contracts in the y-direction of thecontracts 730 may show an increase in the spread for the tradeableobject identified in the contract information 726.

The spread information listed in each of the cells making up thecontract matrix 728 may identify one or more contracts. The spreadinformation may identify the price of a spread. For example, a user mayselect or hover over a contract month for each tradeable object (e.g., acell) in the contract matrix 728, such as the contract month 732, toshow the name and/or price of the spread. The name and/or price may bedisplayed as a pop-up on the user interface 702 or in the priceinformation display area 734. The user may select two different contractmonths for tradeable objects (e.g., cells) in the contract matrix 728 toview the difference between each spread, which may be displayed in theprice information display area 734. In another example, the name and/orprice of each spread may be displayed in the corresponding cells in thecontract matrix 728 as a default that may be toggled by the user.

Additional spread information may be determined and/or displayed in theinterface 702. For example, a net change, a last bid price, a currentbid price, a midpoint, and/or other spread information for a givencontract may be displayed in the contract matrix 728 or elsewhere in theuser interface 702 for each identified spread contract.

The spread information may be received in the market data or generatedfrom the market data at a computing device, e.g., at the syntheticmanager. This spread information may be provided as options that theuser may select to be able to view upon selection or as defaults thatmay be displayed in each instance of the user interface 702. The optionsmay be provided in a dropdown box upon selection of the contract monthsfor tradeable objects (e.g., cells) in the contract matrix 728. Allowingthe user to view such information for each spread may allow a user toview whether prices are increasing or decreasing in future contracts andmake quick and educated decisions from the user interface 702.

FIG. 8 is an example user interface 800 that may be used to selectparameters for identifying spread information, such as the spreadinformation in the contract matrix 728 for example. As shown in FIG. 8,a user may select a parameter to have the high volume combinationsidentified using the high volume combination indicator 802. This mayenable display of the spread combinations having a volume above apre-defined level. The pre-defined level may be user-defined orsystem-defined.

The user interface 800 may include a net change indicator 804. The netchange indicator 804 may allow a user to select parameters for thespread combinations that have a net change between certain pre-definedprice values, such that the spread combinations having the selected netchange may be identified in the contract matrix 728. The net changeindicator 804 may take user input in the form of a sliding bar thatenables the user to select the range of net change for the spreadcombinations to be identified in the contract matrix 728. The spreadcombinations coming outside of the identified range may not beidentified in the contract matrix 728. Though the user interface 800shows the net change indicator 804 in the form of a sliding bar, the netchange indicator 804 may similarly receive user input in the form of atext box, a drop down menu, or another function for receiving userinput.

The user interface 800 may include leg volume threshold indicators 806and/or 808. The leg volume threshold indicators 806 and 808 may allow auser to select parameters for the spread combinations that have a netchange between certain pre-defined price values, such that the spreadcombinations having the selected volume threshold may be identified inthe contract matrix 728. Each leg volume threshold indicator 806 and 808may correspond to a different leg identified in the contract informationof the contract matrix 728. For example, the leg volume thresholdindicator 806 may correspond to the leg identified in the contractinformation 724 and the leg volume threshold indicator 808 maycorrespond to the leg identified in the contract information 726. Theleg volume threshold indicators 806 and 808 may take user input in theform of a sliding bar that enables the user to select the range ofvolume thresholds for each leg of the spreads to be identified in thecontract matrix 728. The legs of the spreads coming outside of theidentified volume range may not be identified. Though the user interface800 shows the leg volume threshold indicators 806 and 808 in the form ofa sliding bar, the leg volume threshold indicators 806 and 808 maysimilarly receive user input in the form of a text box, a drop downmenu, or another function for receiving user input. Also, though theuser interface 800 shows leg volume threshold indicators 806 and 808 fortwo legs of a trading strategy, any number of leg volume thresholdindicators may be implemented based on the number of legs in a tradingstrategy.

The parameters selected in the user interface 800 may result in certainspread information in the contract matrix 728 being identified. Forexample, the high volume combinations over a pre-defined volume, the netchanges within a pre-defined range, and the leg volume thresholds withina pre-defined range may be identified in the contract matrix 728. Theidentification of the spread information may be implemented byhighlighting the spread information (e.g., cells) in the contract matrix728 that meets the parameters selected in the user interface 800. Inanother example, the spread information (e.g., cells) in the contractmatrix 728 that meet the selected parameters may be displayed, while thespread information (e.g., cells) in the contract matrix 728 that doesnot meet the selected parameters may be faded out a certain percentageor may not be displayed altogether. The selections made in the userinterface 800 may be implemented as a user default for each instancethat a contract matrix is displayed, or may otherwise be displayed tomodify the contract matrix.

FIG. 9 is an example display configuration 900 that may display aconfiguration of tradeable objects for defining a trading strategy andspread information associated with the tradeable objects. As shown inFIG. 9, the display configuration 900 may be included in a userinterface 902. The user interface 902 may be a display window embeddedin a trading application. The display configuration 900 may include alist of tradeable objects 904 and a list of tradeable objects 906. Eachof the tradeable objects identified in the list of tradeable objects 904and the list of tradeable objects 906 may be combined to form a productmatrix 908 that may identify combinations of tradeable objects that maybe used to define synthetic spreads.

As shown in the display configuration 900, a combination of tradeableobjects 916 in the product matrix 908 may be selected to generatecontract information 924, 926 and/or a contract matrix 928 for thecombination of tradeable objects 916. The contract information 924 mayidentify the monthly contracts for leg A of the combination of tradeableobjects 916 and the contract information 926 may identify the monthlycontracts for leg B of the combination of tradeable objects 916. Thecontract information 924, 926 and/or a contract matrix 928 may bedisplayed as a pop-out layer of information embedded in the productmatrix 908. The contract information 924 for the tradeable objectidentified in the list of tradeable objects 904 may be displayed alongan x′-axis that is parallel to the x-axis on which the list of tradeableobjects 904 is displayed. The contract information 926 may be displayedalong a y′-axis that is parallel to the y-axis on which the list oftradeable objects 906 is displayed. The contract information 924 and 926may be combined to form the contract matrix 928 that may identifysynthetic spread information for future contracts related to thecombination of tradeable objects 916. The tradeable objects in thecombination of tradeable objects 916 may be highlighted or otherwiseidentified in the product matrix 908. Each tradeable object in thecombination of tradeable objects 916 may also be highlighted orotherwise identified in the list of tradeable objects 904 and/or thelist of tradeable objects 906.

The display configuration 900 may allow for the product matrix 908 foreach combination of tradeable objects in the lists of tradeable objects904, 906 to be displayed in the same user interface 902 as the contractinformation 924, 926 and/or the spread information in the contractmatrix 928 for a certain combination of tradeable objects 916.

The user interface 902 may display price information for the spreadcontracts identified in the contract matrix 928, as described herein.The user may select one or more spread contracts in the user interface902 to display additional information related to the spread contractand/or generate a trade order related to the spread contract. The tradeorder may be generated according to the defined trading strategy at acomputing device, e.g., at the synthetic manager, and may be submittedto an electronic exchange.

The display configuration 900 may be displayed as a subsequent view ofthe display configuration 610. For example, a user may view the displayconfiguration 610 and may select the combination of tradeable objects616 to display a subsequent view having the display configuration 900 inwhich the contract information 924, 926 and/or the contract matrix 928may be presented.

Though the display configuration 900 shows different combinations oftradeable objects and contract information related to two legs of atrading strategy, a similar display may be provided for any number oflegs of a trading strategy. For example, each list of tradeable objects904, 906 may represent a user-defined selection including one or moretradeable objects such as an exchange traded spread, and a user-definedspread. In this way, each of the tradeable objects 904, 906 mayrepresent multiple combinations of other tradeable objects to bedisplayed in the product matrix 908. Similarly the contract information924, 926 may include combinations of one or more contract months toallow additional combinations of spread contracts to be displayed.

FIG. 10 is an example display configuration 1000 that may display aconfiguration of tradeable objects for defining a trading strategy. Asshown in FIG. 10, the display configuration 1000 may be included in auser interface 1002. The display configuration 1000 may be a tabularconfiguration that includes a list of tradeable objects 1004 indifferent tabs. The tradeable objects in the list of tradeable objects1004 may be offered at an electronic exchange. Each tradeable object inthe list of tradeable objects 1004 may be paired with a pre-selectedtradeable object to identify multiple legs of a trading strategy. Forexample, in the user interface 1002, the tradeable object HO may bepre-selected by a user and may be paired with one or more of thetradeable objects in the list of tradeable objects 1004 to identifymultiple legs of a trading strategy. The multiple legs that areidentified may be used to generate the spread information 1028.

The spread information 1028 may identify the monthly spreads between thepre-selected tradeable object (e.g., HO) and the tradeable objectidentified in the tabular list of tradeable objects 1004 (e.g., BZ). Thespread information 1028 may identify the monthly spreads for differenttradeable objects in the tabular list of tradeable objects 1004 upon theuser selection of different tabs corresponding to the tradeable objects.The pre-selected tradeable object (e.g., HO) and/or the list oftradeable objects 1004 may be pre-selected by a user. The pre-selectedtradeable object may be selected by a user from a list of tradeableobjects that correspond to a given electronic exchange. The list oftradeable objects 1004 may be a filtered list (e.g., filtered by theuser) of the tradeable objects at an exchange or an entire list oftradeable objects offered at an exchange.

FIG. 11 is an example display configuration 1100 that may display aconfiguration of contract information for multiple tradeable objects.The display configuration 1100 may be used to display spread information1128 for three legs of a trading strategy. As shown in FIG. 11, thedisplay configuration 1100 may be included in a user interface 1102. Thedisplay configuration 1100 may be a tabular configuration that includescontract information 1104 for a pre-selected tradeable object (e.g., LO)in different tabs for a third leg of a trading strategy. The contractinformation 1104 may be displayed in a tabular list of months (e.g.,from earliest expiring contract in time to latest or the calendar monthsof the year). Each monthly contract in the contract information 1104 maybe paired with the monthly contracts for two other pre-selectedtradeable objects to identify the monthly spreads for three legs of atrading strategy. For example, in the user interface 1102, the tradeableobjects HO and BZ may be pre-selected by a user and may be paired withthe monthly contracts for a third tradeable object (e.g., LO) toidentify the spread information 1128 for the three legs of a tradingstrategy.

The pre-selected tradeable objects (e.g., HOBZ and LO) may bepre-selected by a user. The first two pre-selected tradeable objects maybe defined by the tabular list of tradeable objects 1004 shown in FIG.10 and may be combined with another pre-selected tradeable objectselected by a user from the tradeable objects at a given exchange. Thepre-selected tradeable objects may be selected from a list of tradeableobjects, a drop-down box, a text box, or another user input function.

The spread information 1128 may be built from the spread information1028 shown in FIG. 10. For example, a user may select the tab definingthe two legs of a trading strategy in the tabular list of tradeableobjects 1004. The spread information 1028 may be generated and displayedfor the two legs of the trading strategy. The user may indicate that theuser would like to view the spread information for a third leg and/oridentify a third leg of the trading strategy. The identification of thethird leg of the trading strategy may prompt the display of the spreadinformation 1128 and/or the contract information 1104 that show theinformation for the third leg.

In another example, a user may select the first two legs in a productmatrix. The spread information may be displayed for the two legs of thetrading strategy selected in the product matrix. The user may indicatethat the user would like to view the spread information for a third legand/or identify a third leg of the trading strategy. The third leg ofthe trading strategy may be identified in a list of tradeable objects.The identification of the third leg of the trading strategy may promptthe display of the spread information 1128 and/or the contractinformation 1104 that show the information for the third leg.

The spread information 1028 and 1128 may be displayed in a contractmatrix or in the sequential lists as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. Uponselecting one of the spread contracts in the spread information 1028 or1128, price information or other information related to the identifiedspread may be displayed. The spread information 1028 and 1128 may alsobe displayed according to predefined parameters as described herein.Though FIGS. 10 and 11 show a display configuration for displayingspread information for two and three legs, respectively, spreadinformation may be similarly displayed for any number of legs of atrading strategy.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram depicting an example method 1200 fordisplaying information related to a trading strategy. The method 1200,or portions thereof, may be performed by one or more computing devices,such as a trading device or another computing device. In an example, themethod 1200, or portions thereof, may be performed by a syntheticmanager residing at one or more computing devices.

At 1210, a definition for a trading strategy may be received. Thetrading strategy may include two or more legs that each correspond witha tradeable object that may be offered at an exchange. Contractinformation may be received, at 1220, that may be related to each of thetwo or more legs. The contract information related to a leg A of thetrading strategy may be displayed, at 1230, along an axis in a displayconfiguration. At 1240, the contract information related to a leg B ofthe trading strategy may be displayed along another axis in the displayconfiguration. The axis along which leg B is displayed may be orthogonalto the axis along which leg A is displayed.

As described herein, leg A and leg B of the trading strategy may bedisplayed along orthogonal axes to create a contract matrix. Thecontract matrix may include spread information for future contractscorresponding to each leg of the trading strategy. Though the method1200 indicates that contract information may be displayed that isrelated to two legs of a trading strategy, contract information relatedto any number of legs of a trading strategy may be displayed. Forexample, contract information related to multiple legs of a tradingstrategy may be displayed along one or more axes.

FIG. 13 is a flow diagram depicting an example method 1300 fordisplaying information related to a trading strategy. The method 1300,or portions thereof, may be performed by one or more computing devices,such as a trading device or another computing device. In an example, themethod 1300, or portions thereof, may be performed by a syntheticmanager residing at one or more computing devices.

At 1310, two lists of tradeable objects offered at an exchange may bedisplayed along orthogonal axes to define a product matrix. The productmatrix may include the combinations of tradeable objects displayed alongthe orthogonal axes. An indication of a combination of tradeable objectsin the product matrix may be received, at 1320, to define a tradingstrategy including two or more legs. Contract information may bedisplayed, at 1330, that is related to each leg of the trading strategydefined at 1320. The contract information may identify future monthlycontracts for the legs of the trading strategy. The contract informationmay create a contract matrix that includes spread information thatindicates the future spread contracts for each of the legs of thetrading strategy. At 1340, an indication of a contract in the contractmatrix may be received. Based on the indication of the contract, priceinformation may be displayed. Based on the indication of the contract at1340, a trade order and/or a user prompt to send a trade order to anexchange may be generated. The trade order may be sent when the userindicates that the user would like to submit the trade order to theexchange.

Some of the described figures depict example block diagrams, systems,and/or flow diagrams representative of methods that may be used toimplement all or part of certain embodiments. One or more of thecomponents, elements, blocks, and/or functionality of the example blockdiagrams, systems, and/or flow diagrams may be implemented alone or incombination in hardware, firmware, discrete logic, as a set of computerreadable instructions stored on a tangible computer readable medium,and/or any combinations thereof, for example.

The example block diagrams, systems, and/or flow diagrams may beimplemented using any combination of application specific integratedcircuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)), fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)), discrete logic, hardware, and/orfirmware, for example. Also, some or all of the example methods may beimplemented manually or in combination with the foregoing techniques,for example.

The example block diagrams, systems, and/or flow diagrams may beperformed using one or more processors, controllers, and/or otherprocessing devices, for example. For example, the examples may beimplemented using coded instructions, for example, computer readableinstructions, stored on a tangible computer readable medium. A tangiblecomputer readable medium may include various types of volatile andnon-volatile storage media, including, for example, random access memory(RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM),electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electricallyerasable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, a hard disk drive,optical media, magnetic tape, a file server, any other tangible datastorage device, or any combination thereof. The tangible computerreadable medium is non-transitory.

Further, although the example block diagrams, systems, and/or flowdiagrams are described above with reference to the figures, otherimplementations may be employed. For example, the order of execution ofthe components, elements, blocks, and/or functionality may be changedand/or some of the components, elements, blocks, and/or functionalitydescribed may be changed, eliminated, sub-divided, or combined.Additionally, any or all of the components, elements, blocks, and/orfunctionality may be performed sequentially and/or in parallel by, forexample, separate processing threads, processors, devices, discretelogic, and/or circuits.

While embodiments have been disclosed, various changes may be made andequivalents may be substituted. In addition, many modifications may bemade to adapt a particular situation or material. Therefore, it isintended that the disclosed technology not be limited to the particularembodiments disclosed, but will include all embodiments falling withinthe scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: displaying, by a syntheticmanager, a list of tradeable objects offered at an exchange along afirst axis; displaying, by the synthetic manager, the list of tradeableobjects along a second axis aligned orthogonal to the first axis,wherein the first and second axes cooperate to define a product matrixthat indicates different combinations of the tradeable objects;receiving, by the synthetic manager, an indication of a combination ofthe tradeable objects in the product matrix for defining a tradingstrategy specifying at least two legs; receiving, by the syntheticmanager, contract information related each of the at least two legsspecified by the trading strategy; displaying, by the synthetic manager,the received contract information related to a first leg of the tradingstrategy parallel to the first axis, wherein the contract informationrelated to the first leg of the trading strategy is organized over afirst period of time; and displaying, by the synthetic manager, thereceived contract information related to a second leg of the tradingstrategy parallel to the second axis, wherein the contract informationrelated to the second leg of the trading strategy is organized over asecond period of time, and wherein the contract information related tothe first leg and the contract information related to the second legcooperate to define a contract matrix; receiving, by the syntheticmanager, an indication of a contract in the contract matrix; andgenerating, by the synthetic manager, an order related to the contractindicated in the contract matrix.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: displaying, by the synthetic manager, the product matrix ina first view; and displaying, by the synthetic manager, the contractmatrix in a second view.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the contractinformation related to the first leg indicates a list of futurecontracts for the first leg, and wherein the contract informationrelated to the second leg indicates a list of future contracts for thesecond leg, wherein the list of future contracts for the first leg andthe list of future contracts for the second leg cooperate to define acontract matrix.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:receiving, by the synthetic manager, market data related to eachcontract in the list of future contracts for the first leg; receiving,by the synthetic manager, market data related to each contract in thelist of future contracts for the second leg; determining, by thesynthetic manager, spread information based on the received market datarelated to each contract in the list of future contracts for the firstleg and the received market data related to each contract in the list offuture contracts for the second leg; and displaying, by the syntheticmanager, the spread information in the contract matrix.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the spread information comprises a price or a netchange.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first period of timecomprises an ascending or descending order of contract months for futurecontracts related to the first leg, and wherein the second period oftime comprises a respective ascending or descending order of contractmonths for future contracts related to the second leg.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first period of time comprises an ascending ordescending order of settlement dates for future contracts related to thefirst leg, and wherein the second period of time comprises a respectiveascending or descending order of settlement dates for future contractsrelated to the second leg.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the atleast two legs comprises a third leg, and the method further comprising:receiving, by the synthetic manager, an indication to display contractinformation related to the third leg of the at least two legs;receiving, by the synthetic manager, the contract information related tothe third leg; and displaying, by the synthetic manager, the receivedcontract information related to the third leg, wherein the contractinformation related to the third leg is organized over a third period oftime.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the synthetic manager isexecuted, from memory, by a processor located at a trading device.
 10. Amethod comprising: receiving, by a synthetic manager, a definition for atrading strategy specifying at least two legs and wherein each of the atleast two legs corresponds to a tradeable object offered at an exchange;receiving, by the synthetic manager, contract information related toeach of the at least two legs specified by the trading strategy;displaying, by the synthetic manager, the received contract informationrelated to a first leg of the at least two legs along a first axis,wherein the contract information related to the first leg is organizedover a first period of time; and displaying, by the synthetic manager,the received contract information related to a second leg of the atleast two legs along a second axis arranged orthogonal to the firstaxis, wherein the contract information related to the second leg isorganized over a second period of time.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein the first leg and the second leg are each associated withdifferent tradeable objects.
 12. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: displaying, by the synthetic manager, a list of tradeableobjects parallel to the first axis, wherein the list of tradeableobjects parallel to the first axis comprises the tradeable objectassociated with the first leg; and displaying, by the synthetic manager,a list of tradeable objects parallel to the second axis, wherein thelist of tradeable objects parallel to the second axis comprises thetradeable object associated with the second leg, and wherein the list oftradeable objects parallel to the first axis and the list of tradeableobjects parallel to the second axis cooperate to define a productmatrix.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the contract informationrelated to the first leg indicates a list of future contracts for afirst product type organized over the first period of time, and whereinthe contract information related to the second leg indicates a list offuture contracts for a second product type organized over the secondperiod of time, wherein the list of future contracts for the firstproduct type and the list of future contracts for the second contracttype cooperate to define a contract matrix.
 14. The method of claim 13,further comprising: displaying, by the synthetic manager, the productmatrix in a first view; and displaying, by the synthetic manager, thecontract matrix in a second view.
 15. The method of claim 13, furthercomprising: receiving, by the synthetic manager, market data related toeach contract in the list of future contracts for the first producttype; receiving, by the synthetic manager, market data related to eachcontract in the list of future contracts for the second product type;determining spread information based on the received market data relatedto each contract in the list of future contracts for the first producttype and the received market data related to each contract in the listof future contracts for the second product type; and displaying, by thesynthetic manager, the spread information in the contract matrix. 16.The method of claim 15, wherein the spread information comprises a priceor a net change.
 17. The method of claim 10, further comprisingdisplaying, by the synthetic manager, each combination of tradeableobjects in the at least two legs.
 18. The method of claim 10, whereinthe first period of time comprises an ascending or descending order ofsettlement dates for future contracts related to the first leg, andwherein the second period of time comprises a respective ascending ordescending order of settlement dates for future contracts related to thesecond leg.
 19. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least two legscomprises a third leg, and the method further comprising: receiving, bythe synthetic manager, an indication to display contract informationrelated to the third leg of the at least two legs; receiving, by thesynthetic manager, the contract information related to the third leg;and displaying, by the synthetic manager, the received contractinformation related to the third leg, wherein the contract informationrelated to the third leg is organized over a third period of time. 20.The method of claim 10, wherein the synthetic manager is executed, frommemory, by a processor located at a trading device.